A virtual machine (VM) is a software implementation of a machine, such as a computer, that executes programs like a physical machine. A VM allows multiple operating systems to co-exist on a same hardware platform in strong isolation from each other, utilize different instruction set architectures, and facilitate high-availability and disaster recovery operations.
In some situations, it may be desirable to change from one type of VM architecture to another and/or to move data hosted at one type of virtual machine into another type of virtual machine. Typically, this requires that the information in the current (source) VM be copied into the new (destination) VM. Migrating data between VM architectures, however, may be problematic. For instance, different types of VMs may use different, possibly proprietary, conventions for locating objects stored in the VM hypervisor's file system or namespace.
As a result, migration may be a complex process that must be overseen by a skilled administrator familiar with architecture-specific naming conventions and commands that must be executed on the source VM and destination VM in order to effect the migration. Accordingly, migration may cause a disruption in services, lengthy migration times, or in some cases lead to data corruption.